As a person's life has become busier and busier, it is difficult to notify his/her friends of where s/he is at any given time. As work and other demands often keep a person on the move, a person may find it hard to stay in constant communication with other people. Furthermore, depending on how often a person finds himself or herself traveling, this person may want to let friends or loved ones know where s/he is, but this person may not have time to call all of their loved ones or friends. Finally, with the advent of social networks and instant communications, a person may want to communicate to their friends when this person has moved outside of this person's “comfort zone” or has changed his/her routine.
However, there are several challenges in providing automatic alerts to friends or loved ones. One challenge in providing these alerts is avoiding a constant stream of alerts or sending alerts that are relatively insignificant. This challenge is difficult because, in today's mobile society, a person can visit a geographic location multiple times throughout the day and these visits may or may not be significant. Moreover, if a friend has received an alert about the location of the traveling friend already, it may be difficult to determine when a follow-up alert would be desirable.